Searches of students, protected student areas, lockers, desks, and other facilities or spaces.
Iowa Code § 808A.2
in effect808A.2. Searches of students, protected student areas, lockers, desks, and other facilities or spaces.
1. The school board of each public school and the authorities in charge of each nonpublic school shall establish and may search a student or protected student area pursuant to a student search rule. The student search rule shall be published in each public school’s and each nonpublic school’s student handbook. A school official may search individual students and individual protected student areas if both of the following apply:
a. The official has reasonable grounds for suspecting that the search will produce evidence that a student has violated or is violating either the law or a school rule or regulation.
b. The search is conducted in a manner which is reasonably related to the objectives of the search and which is not excessively intrusive in light of the age and gender of the student and the nature of the infraction.
2. School officials may conduct periodic inspections of all, or a randomly selected number of, school lockers, desks, and other facilities or spaces owned by the school and provided as a courtesy to a student. The furnishing of a school locker, desk, or other facility or space owned by the school and provided as a courtesy to a student shall not create a protected student area, and shall not give rise to an expectation of privacy on a student’s part with respect to that locker, desk, facility, or space. Allowing students to use a separate lock on a locker, desk, or other facility or space owned by the school and provided to the student shall also not give rise to an expectation of privacy on a student’s part with respect to that locker, desk, facility, or space. However, each year when school begins, the school district shall provide written notice to all students and the students’ parents, guardians, or legal custodians, that school officials may conduct periodic inspections of school lockers, desks, and other facilities or spaces owned by the school and provided as a courtesy to a student without prior notice. An inspection under this subsection shall either occur in the presence of the students whose lockers are being inspected or the inspection shall be conducted in the presence of at least one other person.
3. Under no circumstances may a search be made which is unreasonable in light of the following:
a. The age of the student.
b. The nonseriousness of the violation.
c. The sex of the student.
d. The nature of the suspected violation.
4. A school official shall not conduct a search which involves:
a. A strip search.
b. A body cavity search.
c. The use of a drug sniffing animal to search a student’s body.
d. The search of a student by a school official not of the same sex as the student.
5. If a student is not or will not be present at the time a search of a protected student area is conducted pursuant to subsection 1, the student shall be informed of the search either prior to or as soon as is reasonably practicable after the search is conducted.
86 Acts, ch 1129, §2; 94 Acts, ch 1172, §62; 95 Acts, ch 191, §56; 97 Acts, ch 84, §3 – 6; 98 Acts, ch 1100, §91
Source: Iowa Legislature (legis.iowa.gov)URL: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/2026/808A.2.pdfFetched: 10/20/2026